CHAPTER EIGHT
The Nārāyaṇa-kavaca Shield
This chapter describes how Indra, the King of heaven, was victorious over the soldiers of the demons, and it also describes the shield of the Viṣṇu  mantra .
To take protection from this shield, one must first touch  kuśa  grass and wash one's mouth with  ācamana-mantras . One should observe silence and then place the eight-syllable Viṣṇu  mantra  on the parts of his body and place the twelve-syllable  mantra  on his hands. The eight-syllable  mantra  is  oṁ namo nārāyaṇāya . This  mantra  should be distributed all over the front and back of the body. The twelve-syllable  mantra , which begins with the  praṇava ,  oṁkāra , is  oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya . One syllable should be placed on each of the fingers and should be preceded by the  praṇava ,  oṁkāra . Thereafter, one must chant  oṁ viṣṇave namaḥ , which is a six-syllable  mantra . One must progressively place the syllables of the  mantra  on the heart, the head, between the two eyebrows, on the  śikhā  and between the eyes, and then one should chant  maḥ astrāya phaṭ  and with this  mantra  protect himself from all directions.  Nādevo devam arcayet : one who has not risen to the level of a  deva  cannot chant this  mantra . According to this direction of the  śāstra , one must think himself qualitatively nondifferent from the Supreme.
After finishing this dedication, one must offer a prayer to the eight-armed Lord Viṣṇu, who sits on the shoulders of Garuḍadeva. One also has to think of the fish incarnation, Vāmana, Kūrma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Paraśurāma, Rāmacandra (the elder brother of Lakṣmaṇa), Nara-Nārāyaṇa, Dattātreya (an empowered incarnation), Kapila, Sanat-kumāra, Hayagrīva, Nāradadeva (the incarnation of a devotee), Dhanvantari, Rṣabhadeva, Yajña, Balarāma, Vyāsadeva, Buddhadeva and Keśava. One should also think of Govinda, the master of Vṛndāvana, and one should think of Nārāyaṇa, the master of the spiritual sky. One should think of Madhusūdana, Tridhāmā, Mādhava, Hṛṣikeśa, Padmanābha, Janārdana, Dāmodara and Viśveśvara, as well as the Supreme
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